10 Thoughts for March 11, 2014

1. While we were paying attention to Ukraine and Russia, North Korea threw a tantrum, firing a series of nuclear missile tests.  One of these missiles came within 7 minutes of a Chinese passenger airlines.  That event apparently convinced China to issue a red line for North Korea.  Funny, when existentialism hits.
2. North Korea threw a tantrum because it's the start of the annual South Korea - US war games -- the same one last year this time that triggered a tense war of rhetoric and bad photoshop.
3. Will the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up?  No?  That's okay, because you really don't want to be fingered as the naive guy who wrote up the lousy manifesto on fiat money, esp if you're 60-something.
4. If the Obama Administration played good hardball, they'd have a major press conference at the beginning of the week and thank Russia's Putin for showing the example of Crimea to the world...followed by an announcement that the US will offer two programs up for a vote at the UN to allow both Taiwan and independently-controlled regions of Syria to hold democratically-driven elections to secede.
5. Speaking of Ukraine, you gotta be kidding me, that Sergey Lavrov would call people in control of Ukraine as "radical nationalists".  Look in the mirror and around you, Mr. Lavrov.  Nationalism is universal.  Radical nationalism is nothing more than the same fringe in Russia that exists in Ukraine, France, Japan, China, the US and everywhere else.
6. The BLS jobs number is interesting, in light of the bad late Winter weather across the country. Combined with data showing that there are millions of jobs that have gone unfilled, it seems that the economy is right at the edge of a big boost.
7. I don't like this design for a memorial.  The reason: It reflects minimalism on the face of it, but it's a rather major interruption of Nature.  In some distant future, it will affect its surroundings and eventually lead to death of living material.
8. A peek at some future IKEA stuff, to be released next month or so.
9. Portland cat attacks family?  Not.  Idiot parents allow their baby to chase animals and pull their tails, then are surprised when the cat gets very angry: "The cat never attacked the baby until he pulled on his tail." 
10. Masayoshi Son promises a price war if he's allowed to buy out T-Mobile USA.  Ignoring, of course, that there is a war going on right now, started by T-Mobile.